Played with a broken wrist: Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay, the Indian Test opener, who was ruled out of the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League with an injured wrist, has revealed that he had played through India's marathon home season of 13 Tests with a fractured wrist. The opener also said that the injury got aggravated as he played through it, also limiting his ability to bat freely and "play certain shots".

"I don't want to get too much into the status of the injury but I was playing with a fractured wrist," Vijay was quoted as telling the New Indian Express on Tuesday (April 18). "It was a difficult situation to be in, but the team always comes first ... I was not able to bat freely because, as the injury aggravated, I couldn't play certain shots and when I went out to bat, I had to grind it out. Especially against pacers, it was difficult at times to even defend off the front foot because it was my bottom hand that was injured.

"I was told not to use any power while batting, so that was something I had to keep in mind while facing spinners," he said. "As a batsman, when you can't play certain shots, it affects your momentum and it was frustrating, but I saw it as a challenge because nothing comes easy and I learned a lot. My body language might not tell you a real story all the time. I was in pain and it is not in my personality to show what I'm going through and gain sympathy. At the end of the day, I'm the one going through that and need to handle it on my own."

Of the 13 Tests in the home season that began in September, Vijay missed only the second one against Australia in Bengaluru, finishing the season as India's third-highest run-getter with 771 runs, averaging 36.71, behind Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. Vijay kickstarted his season on a high with two fifties against New Zealand in Kanpur before he amassed two hundreds against England and followed that up with one against Bangladesh. Against Australia, however, he scored only the one half-century in Ranchi, but was dismissed cheaply in the remainder ones.

Vijay travelled to the UK for surgery on his injured wrist and returned to Chennai on April 16. He has started rehabilitation and hopes to able to pick up the bat in a month or two. "The team management really understood, where I stood in terms of injury and they kept me motivated. I have already started my rehabilitation and hopefully, in a month or two, I should be able to pick up the bat again," he said.